Each year the University Health Network (UHN) awards an individual with the Inventor of the Year award. This year, the award was presented to Dr. Ralph DaCosta, Founder, Director and Chief Scientific Officer of MolecuLight ® Inc., for developing a handheld fluorescence-enabled imaging platform which allows instantaneous visualization of bacteria and tissues (in wounds) based on autofluorescence imaging – without the need for imaging contrast agents.

This award is sponsored by the UHN Technology Development and Commercialization Office presented to UHN researchers who show an outstanding contribution to patient-oriented biomedical research through the creation of new, inventive technologies. This technology could lead to better diagnosis of wound infections and thereby improve the effectiveness of current treatments in clinical and community settings, while reducing healthcare costs. In addition, this platform imaging technology is undergoing early clinical trial evaluation for fluorescence image- guided margin assessment and surgical guidance in breast cancer as well as applications in wound care that go beyond chronic wound infection, e.g. radiation-induced skin wounds and surgical site infections.